ABSTRACT
Santa Fe County's Open Land and Trails Plan emphasizes the need to protect the connections between the natural landscape and the centuries of past civilizations that both shaped and were shaped by their environment. Cultural landscapes result from the interaction of people and nature on the land over time. Santa Fe County's 2010 Sustainable Growth Management Plan builds on the 2000 plan and emphasizes that land preservation and trail development are essential to ecotourism, the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry. The 2010 Sustainable Growth Management Plan also stresses the need for strategic open space acquisitions as a way of curbing sprawl as well as protecting natural, cultural, and agricultural resources. The plan identifies key open space projects, including a greenway along the Santa Fe River, as well as extensive trail development and the preservation of farms and ranchlands. Santa Fe County is also part of a three-county region containing additional archaeological sites and eight Native American pueblos.
